Go on to
Here we go, time for an English expression. Today we’ve got the phrasal verb “go on to.” This is an interesting one. When we use “go on to”, we are usually talking about the progression of a person’s life or career and we’re usually describing how that person achieved bigger and better things in the future. And it’s often used in the past, “went on to.”
Regis Philbin hosted a local morning talk show in Los Angeles. Local shows are broadcast on only one station in one region. They talk about local things. It’s a big deal in Los Angeles, a big city, but it’s still local. After leaving LA, Regis went on to host a nationally-syndicated show based in New York. He went on to host a national show. We “went on to” because we’re talking about the upward progression of his life and career.
When we use this phrase, we say someone went on to…and then we say the bigger and better accomplishment. You know Regis moved to New York to host a national show. Regis went on to win two Daytime Emmy awards in one single year—one award for his morning show and one award for his game show. That was a further accomplishment after taking over his national show.
Way back in Lesson 37 we talked about the Japanese baseball star Shohei Ohtani. After dominating baseball in his native country, he went on to sign a big contract with the Los Angeles Angels in the United States. He then went on to win the award for Rookie of the Year in 2018. After dominating in Japan, he went on to sign a contract in the US. That was the next step in his upward progression. He got to the US and went on to win the award for the best first-year player in 2018: the next in the upward progression after signing his contract. You get the idea.
In Lesson 150 we talked about Tiger Woods. At age 21, Tiger Woods won the Master’s tournament, the most prestigious tournament in golf. He made a big statement with that win and he went on to become the most dominant player in all of professional golf. That was next after that first win. But then came the downfall: I won’t describe it all here, but he hit bottom, with injuries and a slew of personal problems. He attempted a comeback in 2010, but he was not his former self. But he kept battling and training and went on to win the Master’s again at age 43.
JR’s song of the week
JR’s song of the week is “A Little Goes a Long Way” by David Archuleta. “A little goes a long way” is a popular expression in English. It means that if you invest a little time or effort, then it can make a big difference. And that is also the name of this week’s song, so thanks to Evgeny from Russia for nominating today’s song of the week. Remember that members of all levels can play the song of the week straight from the member dashboard at PlainEnglish.com.
See you next time!
That brings us to the end of today’s audio lesson. Remember that you’ve just listened to the audio portion of Plain English, but there’s always more to explore online. A free membership gives you links to English articles about the main topic, plus a free word-for-word transcript, and “Learn the Lingo,” our feature on informal words and phrases. So check that out at PlainEnglish.com, click “Join Plain English” when you get there and sign up for a free membership.
As always, we’ll be back on Monday for another lesson. Make sure to join us because the next two episodes are about a topic near and dear to my heart lately: sleep. See you then!
Use realistic expressions like a native speaker
